This invention relates to a method of, and apparatus for, sorting and bundling flowers. In the prior art, the method has the following steps:
hanging the flowers separately in individual flower supporting members moving in a first closed path; PA1 as they are traversing said path, the flowers are selected as to at least one characteristic, such as stem length; PA1 depending on the characteristic, transferring the selected flowers to receiving flower supporting members moving in a second path; PA1 grouping the flowers into groups of a limited number of flowers; and PA1 collecting and bundling a series of groups into a bunch. PA1 a first conveyor including an array of first individual flower supporting members arranged to be brought from a transport position into a transfer position; PA1 a designation station for designating flowers carried by said first conveyor as to at least one characteristic, such as stem length; PA1 a series of second conveyors disposed next to the path of movement of said first conveyor, and having an array of second flower supporting members to which at least one flower can be transferred from a first flower supporting member placed in the transfer position; PA1 means for grouping a limited number of equally designated flowers in a slotted bifurcated flower supporting member.
Sorting flowers as to a given characteristic, for example, stem length, and subsequently bundling flowers having the same characteristic is difficult to mechanize, especially as flowers are tender products which are apt to become damaged. One especially critical operation is the transfer of the flowers from a flower carrying support member moving in a first closed path to a flower receiving support member moving in a second path. The number of transfers per flower should be minimized and during each transfer the movements of a flower carrying member and a flower receiving member must be well attuned to each other as regards both velocity and direction. A further important point is that during grouping the flower heads must not bear upon each other, as this may easily cause them to break off.
The problems outlined above are aggravated even further with increasing handling speeds.
Netherlands patent application 7310250 discloses a flower sorting apparatus in which flowers of a given stem length are transferred from a first conveyor to an intermediate conveyor associated with a particular stem length, and subsequently to a flower group supporting member which occupies an inclined position relative to the horizontal plane. In the first conveyor, the flowers are supported by horizontal, L-shaped flower supporting members which in the transfer position make a pivoting movement whereby the flower traverses a circular path terminating in an individual flower receiving member of the intermediate conveyor, which during transfer is driven by the L-shaped flower supporting member. Slotted openings in flower supporting member and flower receiving member are in alignment with each other. It is difficult for these slotted openings to be well aligned, which is a condition for flower transfer free from damage. The L-shaped flower supporting members occupy a lot of space in the first conveyor, so that the number of flower supporting members per unit length is very limited. To achieve a reasonable operating speed at all, the first conveyor would have to be driven at a high velocity. This, however, makes it considerably more difficult to place flowers in the flower supporting members of the conveyor.
From the intermediate conveyor, the flowers slide into an inclined flower group supporting member, whereby the flower heads are pushed against each other.